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Ciceri T, Squarcina L, Pigoni A, Ferro A, Montano F, Bertoldo A, Persico N, Boito S, Triulzi FM, Conte G, Brambilla P, Peruzzo D. Geometric Reliability of Super-Resolution Reconstructed Images from Clinical Fetal MRI in the Second Trimester. Neuroinformatics 2023; 21:549-563. [PMID: 37284977 PMCID: PMC10406722 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-023-09635-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 05/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an important noninvasive diagnostic tool to characterize the central nervous system (CNS) development, significantly contributing to pregnancy management. In clinical practice, fetal MRI of the brain includes the acquisition of fast anatomical sequences over different planes on which several biometric measurements are manually extracted. Recently, modern toolkits use the acquired two-dimensional (2D) images to reconstruct a Super-Resolution (SR) isotropic volume of the brain, enabling three-dimensional (3D) analysis of the fetal CNS.We analyzed 17 fetal MR exams performed in the second trimester, including orthogonal T2-weighted (T2w) Turbo Spin Echo (TSE) and balanced Fast Field Echo (b-FFE) sequences. For each subject and type of sequence, three distinct high-resolution volumes were reconstructed via NiftyMIC, MIALSRTK, and SVRTK toolkits. Fifteen biometric measurements were assessed both on the acquired 2D images and SR reconstructed volumes, and compared using Passing-Bablok regression, Bland-Altman plot analysis, and statistical tests.Results indicate that NiftyMIC and MIALSRTK provide reliable SR reconstructed volumes, suitable for biometric assessments. NiftyMIC also improves the operator intraclass correlation coefficient on the quantitative biometric measures with respect to the acquired 2D images. In addition, TSE sequences lead to more robust fetal brain reconstructions against intensity artifacts compared to b-FFE sequences, despite the latter exhibiting more defined anatomical details.Our findings strengthen the adoption of automatic toolkits for fetal brain reconstructions to perform biometry evaluations of fetal brain development over common clinical MR at an early pregnancy stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tommaso Ciceri
- NeuroImaging Laboratory, Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Letizia Squarcina
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Alessandro Pigoni
- Social and Affective Neuroscience Group, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Lucca, Italy
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Adele Ferro
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Florian Montano
- NeuroImaging Laboratory, Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
| | - Alessandra Bertoldo
- Department of Information Engineering, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
- Padova Neuroscience Center, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
| | - Nicola Persico
- Department of Woman, Child and Newborn, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Simona Boito
- Department of Woman, Child and Newborn, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Fabio Maria Triulzi
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
- Department of Services and Preventive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Giorgio Conte
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
- Department of Services and Preventive Medicine, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy
| | - Paolo Brambilla
- Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.
- Department of Neurosciences and Mental Health, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
| | - Denis Peruzzo
- NeuroImaging Laboratory, Scientific Institute IRCCS Eugenio Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
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